Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General Trying to help my dear old mom (osteoarthritis, shoulder)

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    • #70685
      AvatarRANDy CARTWRIGHT
      Participant

      Hi.

      My 66 year old sweet mom has had severe shoulder pain for some time now. She has been diagnosed recently with osteoarthritis of the ac joint and also an impingement syndrome, most likely something called subacromial bursitis, the back of her right shoulder is very swollen and inflamed. The osteoarthritis and bursitis often co-exist as I understand.
      The shoulder is overall very stiff and weak, and just trying to raise the arm above 90 degrees is very painful.
      The last visit to the doctor resulted in a prescription of a 3-week long dose of anti-inflammatory that she has just started, and also getting to meet a physiotherapist.

      I was wondering if you guys have any experience of these kind of shoulder problems and what mobilizations to use?

      We’ve talked about the importance of correct posture, but because of the pain when trying to perform any exercises it´s hard to come up with anything good that could be used. I reckon that you shouldn´t perform any drills that causes pain, but in this case the shoulder is so stiff there isn´t really anything that does not inflict pain. Maybe it´s not possible to resolve this without surgery but perhaps there is some things that can be done to relief the pain?

      But where to start?
    • #73650
      AvatarAnonymous
      Guest

      Have you looked at anything downstream such as the elbow?
      A rib could be out of place changing shoulder positioning.
      This could be impacting the situation

      Have you tried any of these options?
      Better Benching and Pressing
      Episode 78: Un-impinge yourself from mental slavery
      Episode 31: 10 min squat & an Impingement Fix

      One option is to have her lay on the floor and lift her arms straight up. Doing it on the floor removes gravity which can impact the ability to bring the arm to 90. This is why PT starts with the person doing this on the floor following surgery. You could have her hold a pvc pipe when doing it.

    • #73674
      AvatarRANDy CARTWRIGHT
      Participant

      Thanks for your reply Kaitlin.

      We have tried “arm-raised-with-kettlebell” impingement drill, unfortunately not enough times to see any change, will try it again though.
      I guess t-spine mobility could help with shoulder impingment as well?
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